I love sewing. I just wish I had more time to do it. My girls adore the skirts and aprons I make for them and it’s a wonderful way to save on clothing purchases. A nice long skirt will run you $15 – $30 for a child’s size. When I have to do some clothes shopping, I’m hoping to get at least 4 pieces of clothing out of that much money! Well, it’s rare that I do get that many but it’s my target.
I’ve found a great way to get a better deal than that with a little extra effort. Wanna know my secret? Sheets. The Goodwill and sheets. At our local Goodwill store twin sheets are $2 each. Queen and large
r are $3. Nice big pieces of seamless fabric – they’re perfect for making long skirts and aprons. Most trips to the Goodwill get me two or three sheets in good to great condition. Even when one has a stain or tear, in most cases there’s plenty of good fabric on it to justify the purchase. Sometimes I find sheets with my kids’ favorite cartoon characters on them. These are great for aprons and tote bags. Occasionally, I’ll find a really nice sheet with a beautiful trim on it like this Martha Stewart sheet. The trim was so pretty that I decided to leave it for the hem. Major bonus when you eliminate an entire hem and get embellishments too!
Here are some of my favorite patters to use with my Goodwill sheets repurposed fabric.
- Super Easy Patternless A-line skirt (I have used this method for most of mine and the girls’ skirts. It’s so easy to manipulate for different looks.)
- Girl’s Edwardian Apron pattern from Sense and Sensibility Patterns
- Pillowcase Dress Tutorial (while you’re at the Goodwill, pick up some pillowcases) this is one of the best tutorials ever – easy to follow and lots of pictures
Character fabric for kids is SO expensive! Anytime I find a kid’s sheet I snatch it up to make crayon rolls, treat bags or mini I Spy quilts.
We have been very fortunate to be the recipients of a good many hand-me-downs from other families. This has saved us a tremendous amount of money – I can’t even fathom what we’ve saved! But our oldest girl is now at an age where clothing sizes are constantly changing. Not only that, but nothing seems to fit properly. Everything we find in the stores is too tight, too small and usually waaaaay to short. It’s a pedophile’s dream out there! ugh, creepy. Making our own skirts and things has been very helpful in this area. Now if I could just learn how to make a long t-shirt. If you got a good tutorial for that, shoot me a link, please. I have NO idea how to do it and my past experience with armholes was slightly painful. Definitely not pretty, either.
What are some ways you save on clothes? Do you have a Goodwill secret buy? What do you make with repurposed fabric?
-knittingprose
Awesome!! Now to just remember that tip down the road! I just came across a great tutorial on making a toddler/baby dress & matching leg warmers out of a little girl’s shirt. It was soo cute, you would love it! I think it was on the TipJunkie’s site… Oh and also there was a tutorial on making a toddler girl dress out of an adult sweater!!
oh i’ve heard of those but not seen them. I should look into them. If you find the link, let me know. : )
You are so creative! And now I know who to give my nice flannel sheet with the hole in it! I have this sheet with snowmen and winter scenes on it, and somehow there is a rip in the center. I have been hanging onto it – surely someone could use this….right? 🙂 I’ll bring it by your house soon! I bet you could make something really cute!
ooh flannel! I could do scarves or christmas goody bags for the boys or throw pillows… hmm, I’ll take it and do something with it!